In gnathostome vertebrates, including fish, birds and mammals, peripheral nerves link nervous system, body and immediate environment by integrating efferent pathways controlling movement apparatus or organ function and afferent pathways underlying somatosensation. Several lines of evidence suggest that peripheral nerve assembly involves instructive interactions between efferent and afferent axo...

This review focuses on the importance of oestrogen and oestrogen receptors in the male reproductive system, with a special interest in the newly discovered role of oestrogen in the regulation of fluid reabsorption in the efferent ductules of the testis. Early work on oestrogen synthesis indicated that Leydig and Sertoli cells were the only important cells in the production of this steroid in th...

Great neuroanatomists of the twentieth century recognized that the cerebral cortex of mammals is the single most complex structure of the central nervous system both in terms of neuronal diversity and connectivity. Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms specifying the afferent and efferent connectivity in the neocortex may seem like a daunting task. However, recent technical advanc...

Scanning electron microscope study was carried out on the methyl methacrylate cast of the intrahepatic blood vessels of the monkey and it was unequivocally demonstrated that the peribiliary blood vascular plexus received the afferent vessels from the hepatic artery and emitted the efferent vessels directly draining into the hepatic sinusoids. The possible significance of this vascular route, wh...

In gnathostome vertebrates, including fish, birds and mammals, peripheral nerves link nervous system, body and immediate environment by integrating efferent pathways controlling movement apparatus or organ function and afferent pathways underlying somatosensation. Several lines of evidence suggest that peripheral nerve assembly involves instructive interactions between efferent and afferent axo...

Sensitivity of the tonic stretch reflex (TSR) of biceps brachii in normal man was measured at different levels of voluntary contraction before and after gamma efferent nerve fibres were selectively blocked by infiltration of dilute procaine. The procaine infiltration reduced TSR sensitivity to one half of its control value. It had no effect, however, on the slope of the relation between TSR gai...

A simple object capturing circuit which is based on the biological structure of the superior colliculus and retina is proposed for realizing an artificial saccadic system. The function of the superior colliculus, an afferent and efferent mappings are considered in the circuit. Results of numerical and SPICE simulations reveal that the proposed circuit could shift the gaze toward the target in t...

Efferent feedback onto sensory organs provides a means to modulate input to the central nervous system. In the developing mammalian cochlea, inner hair cells are transiently innervated by efferent fibers, even before sensory function begins. Here, we show that neonatal inner hair cells are inhibited by cholinergic synaptic input before the onset of hearing. The synaptic currents, as well as the...

By means of their efferent projections to motor and premotor structures, the cells in the deep superior colliculus are intimately involved in behaviors that control the orientation of the eyes, pinnae, and head. These same efferent cells receive multiple sensory inputs, thereby apparently enabling an animal to orient its receptor organs in response to a wide variety of cues. This sensory conver...